Tom Ellison Randolph-Seng

Tom Ellison Randolph-Seng was born Sunday, April 27th at 4:09 in the morning, 6 lbs 15 oz, 20 3/4 inches long, light brown hair. Beautiful, beautiful boy. He looks like his brothers. Tommy is the sweetest baby. We love him so much. 

Tommy's middle name is my grandmother's maiden name and he is named in honor of her father and mother, Fernie Lee and Eliza Berta Ellison and their family. Coincidentally, Fernie had a brother named Thomas Ellison. Personally, I thought Fernie could be a middle name that was so uncool, it was cool. But Brandon kindly, but firmly, vetoed it.   .  

The boys love him. Luke wants to hold him every chance he gets and periodically, Pete comes over just to look at Tommy, then he smiles or chuckles and then goes back to playing.

Tommy has brought the nicest feeling into our home. Brandon and I are really enjoying this heavenly influence and are kinder parents and kinder to each other even though we are severely sleep-deprived. I think our experiences over the last week have tempered us a little bit.

We almost didn't get to bring home our baby at all, he came so close to dying. I am so thankful for our nurses and doctors--those who literally saved his life when he was born with a prolapsed cord, unexpectedly breach and with no time to perform an emergency c-section. Our little boy was born not breathing and without a heartbeat and they resuscitated him using CPR. Miraculously, he is alive and the acidosis resolved very quickly after birth and evidence points to acute trauma, not chronic.

Almost unbelievably, the only big problem they could identify was very low blood sugar, for which he needed continuous fluids through an IV and so he was transferred from Rockwall Presbyterian to the Dallas Presbyterian NICU. He stayed in the NICU for 2 1/2 days until he could keep his blood sugar levels up without extra help, then he was transferred to the Special Care Unit Tuesday afternoon. Then his bili rubin count was high enough that he needed light therapy. He stayed until Thursday afternoon when he was released from the hospital with a pediatrician appointment scheduled for Friday. On Friday, he was doing well enough that he didn't need another blood test and he was given a clean bill of health. I'm so glad he didn't have to have more blood drawn because his little heels have been pricked so many times this week.

We have been so blessed. The doctors and especially nurses who have cared for us this week have been like angels ministering to us. I am really, really thankful Heavenly Father protected my baby.

I do want to mention a few things that I hope I'm learning from: 
--When my baby was transferred to Dallas and I was left in Rockwall having only held him once, I watched him crying on a closed-circuit camera. My nerves were pretty frayed after two days without any sleep, and I told the Lord that I could feel that I was on the edge of losing it. After praying I looked one last time and found him peacefully sleeping and then I turned off the computer and turned him over to God.  
--When I arrived the following evening in the NICU, I saw a huge, gorgeous photograph on the wall of wildly happy children, but it didn't make me happy. My gut reaction to their laughter was...resentment. It was this gut feeling and I wondered bitterly, "How dare they be so happy when my baby isn't okay?" I knew the moment was fleeting, but it opened my heart to others and I thought, "Oh, this is why someone might feel that way and no wonder." The world keeps on spinning even through all of our personal tragedies.
--That night I held my baby for 7 hours straight, then I slept for 4 hours and woke up to hold him again. In the little bay across from his, was a tiny baby boy-not yet 3 pounds--in an enclosed unit with no parent available to sit vigil by it's side. It dawned on me that I didn't know before what survivor's guilt was, and I'm sure I only know it now in a small way.
--I just have a new appreciation for parents who have babies and children in the hospital. I never really gave it much thought, but it is hard.